


hard work

by maddogkyouchan



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:49:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27497467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maddogkyouchan/pseuds/maddogkyouchan
Summary: It’d been a struggle to meet up with Hinata as often as they wanted ever since he moved to a new town a whole forty minutes away, but luckily his mom was willing to drive him every few weeks for sleepovers. It just made it better for Tsukishima- Hinata could be overwhelming in large doses, and the time in between meeting means he can get practice and surprise Hinata with his skill.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Tsukishima Kei
Kudos: 67





	hard work

Toss, toss, toss-  _ set. _

Tsukishima was getting better at setting now. It took a lot of practice- both with Akiteru-nii, who was bad at teaching, and Yamaguchi, who didn’t know anything about volleyball in general- but he was ready to meet up with Hinata for the weekend.

It’d been a struggle to meet up with Hinata as often as they wanted ever since he moved to a new town a whole forty minutes away, but luckily his mom was willing to drive him every few weeks for sleepovers. It just made it better for Tsukishima- Hinata could be overwhelming in large doses, and the time in between meeting means he can get practice and surprise Hinata with his skill.

He checks the door every few minutes when it gets close to Hinata’s arrival time, just in case the doorbell’s broken (even though Hinata doesn’t use it and just walks in every time). It makes Akiteru snicker, but Tsukishima is already mad at him for eating one of his slices of cake- which means he has to share one piece with Hinata instead of having one each like he planned- so he gives his older brother the cold shoulder as he walks back and forth.

As he walks to the door for maybe the dozenth time, it flies open, hitting the wall next to it hard and making Tsukishima wince. “Kei-chan!”

“Shouyou, don’t open the door that hard.” It’s a losing battle- there’s already faint cracks in the wall from previous times.

“Sorry!” he chirps as he goes in for a hug. The worst part is that he means it, but he’ll still do it again and again. Tsukishima just huffs, not hugging back but appreciating the contact anyway.

When he lets go, Tsukishima takes a step back, picking up his volleyball from where he left it. “Come to the backyard.”

“Yessss!” Hinata cheers. “Akiteru-nii, c’mon-”

“No, Kei wants to show you something he’s been working hard on,” Akiteru says, clearly amused despite the glare Tsukishima aims at him. Before Hinata can question Akiteru any further, Tsukishima grabs him by the arm and starts tugging him towards the backyard.

“I’m going to toss to you,” he announces as soon as they’re alone. Immediately, it looks like Hinata’s eyes are sparkling.

“Really? That’s what you were practicing? Are you going to be a setter? I thought you were going to be a middle blocker?” he shoots out questions so fast that he stumbles over the words.

“I’ll be whatever the coach tells me I should be,” Tsukishima tells him. “But I can at least set well enough to help you practice spiking. Get ready.” He holds the ball, a little anxious- he’s done fine when alone with Akiteru-nii or Yamaguchi, but it feels like the stakes are higher when he’s setting for Hinata. Like if he does it wrong, Hinata won’t like him anymore, and that’s the worst thing he can imagine- not that he’d admit it.

He peeks at Hinata as he raises the volleyball- he looks fired up, of course. His new school doesn’t have a boy’s volleyball team, and ever since Tsukishima introduced him to it he’s been obsessed, so most of his practicing is just with him and his brother, but it’s something. ...really, even if he messes up, Hinata probably won’t know the difference. Tsukishima lets that thought calm him before he tosses it in an arc- high, maybe too high, not that it matters-

Because Hinata flies through the air, smacking the ball on pure instinct. It’s not good- if it was on the court, it’d definitely be out of bounds. But the pure joy in Hinata’s eyes makes him hesitate to critique it. He only hesitates for a moment, though. “That was pretty bad, Shouyou.”

“Huh?! But I hit it! Really hard, I bet no one could receive it!”

“It almost flew into the neighbor’s yard.”

Hinata pouts, clearly dissatisfied with the complaint. “Okay, so I need to get better at aiming. But it wasn’t  _ bad! _ I’m better at hitting it now, right? I’ve been practicing with the girl’s team- Ah, but Kei-chan, how have you been practicing? I didn’t know you were so good at setting!”

He feels his face warm up at the praise, but he keeps a straight face as best he can. “I’ve been tossing to Akiteru-nii. And I’m not really good. It’s not like I’ve been trying all that hard.” Of course he has. He’s been trying his best to improve his aim, specifically for moments like this. “Anyway, we have to practice more if you’re going to-”

“Of course we are!” Hinata interrupts him. “Because we’re both gonna have to be starters when we get to high school!”

“You know, that’s pretty unlikely,” he mutters. “Second and third years won’t just step aside, no matter how good we are. It took Akiteru-nii a while to become the ace, even though he was so good in middle school.”

“If they won’t step aside willingly, then we’ll have to prove ourselves! We’ll have to  _ make _ them step aside! You’re good at setting, I think- Midocchi from school tosses  _ past _ me a lot but you did it just right- and I’ll keep jumping higher and higher!”

“Jumping high isn’t going to make you a good player by itself,” Tsukishima sighs. “I don’t even know if I want to be a setter, anyway. Middle blocker will be easier, I think, especially if I keep growing.”

“You better stop growing soon,” Hinata huffs, crossing his arms. “Or I’m going to have to stunt your growth!”

That pulls a laugh out of him. “And how exactly do you plan to do that?”

“...I don’t know! But I’ll do it!” Hinata goes to fetch the volleyball before returning, pushing it into Tsukishima’s hands. “But I think you should keep practicing setter.”

“So you can have someone to toss to you? Isn’t that selfish of you?” he says, not quite cruel enough to mean it.

Hinata doesn’t seem to take it too badly, anyway. “Not just that!” But he doesn’t deny that that’s part of it… “Isn’t it kind of a waste to just do what’s easiest? And besides! I want you at my side when I’m Karasuno’s next ace, and isn’t setter the best position for that?!”

Tsukishima’s face heats up again. “You say the stupidest stuff. Are you even going to get into Karasuno with such an empty head?” While Hinata squawks, offended, he raises his arms again, tossing the ball high in the air.

Later, they’ll share Tsukishima’s last slice of cake. Later, they’ll sit on the couch and watch Tsukishima’s favorite movie. Later, they’ll set up Hinata’s futon, and then Hinata will drag Tsukishima onto the floor so they can talk in the dark, and they’ll fall asleep inches from each other. In the morning Tsukishima will pretend he never hugged Hinata as they slept. Tomorrow Hinata will go home, and Tsukishima will count down the days until they see each other again, until their next sleepover, until they can finally go to the same school again.

For now, he just watches Hinata’s hand connect with the toss he gave him, a sight he wants to see a thousand more times. A sight he  _ will _ see a thousand more times, if he’s lucky.

No. If he works hard, to stand at Hinata’s side.

**Author's Note:**

> this fic is weird bc i figured it would be like 1k words... and then it actually was, unlike every other fic where i end up doubling my intended wordcount
> 
> this was originally for tsukihina week, for the childhood friends prompt, but i had two versions of the concept and didnt finish either in time. anyway, happy 11/10, my final excuse to post it! for a special tsukihina occasion!
> 
> find me on twitter @deltonysus


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